Hay-rack lift



J. A. JQHNSONB HAY RACK LIFT.

APPLICATION HLED JULY 9,1920.

Patented July 18, 1922.

J'( 5Ell?Ll?I ANTON JOHNSON, OF BLUE EARTH,

"tar

MINNESOTA.

HAY-RACK LIFT.

To all ZIP/BOWL it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrn ANToN JOHN- son', a citizen of the UnitedStates of America, residing at Blue Earth, in the county of Faribaultand State of Minnesota, have invented new and useful Improvements inHay-Rack Lifts, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and convenient methodwhereby a hay rack may be removable from and replaced upon a wagonrunning gear without involving the physical effort ordinarily incidentto this procedure and to facilitate the attachment to the rack of thelifting means whereby the load may be transferred to the place ofstorage; and with this object in view, the invention consists of theconstruc tion and combination of parts, apreferred embodiment of whichis shown in the drawings wherein z- Figure l, is a side view of theapparatus showing the adjusted arrangement of the counterbalance weightsfor maintaining the rails in an inclined position as when driving awagon between the same.

Figure 2 is a similar view showing an adj ustment of the railspermitting of the backing of the wagon into its position between therails preliminary to a subsequent for ward movement to displace the rackfrom the running gear.

The apparatus consists essentially of laterally spaced. posts oruprights 10, upon which are mounted at intermediate points, the tiltingrails 11 provided at their extremities with. pivotal pendent supports Orleg, 12 adapted to be folded by swinging movement in planes parallelwith the rails to permit of the depression of either end of a rail whileadapting the near rails to swing to a vertical or upright position tosupport the rails in a substantially horizontal position for thereception of a rack 13 which may be of the ordinary construction and isusually supported for removal upon the bolsters 14 of a farm wagonrunning gear such as that indicated at 15.

The raclr receiving rails are provided adjacent to one end with stopblocks 16 forming shoulders for engagement with the ends of the wagonrack to limit the longitudinal movement of the rack relative to therails, as a wagon is driven between the rails, so as to permit therunning gear of the wagon to be drawn from beneath the rack, and thusSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 18, 19223,,

Application filed July 9, 1920. SerialNo. 395,097.

leave the latter in a supported position upon the intermediately pivotedrails of the lift. Also each. of said rails is preferably provided withan. adjustable counter weight 17 movable to occupy a position at eitherside of the plane of the pivoted points or axes of the rails, so thatwhen, as shown in Figure 2, it is desired to arrange the rails in atilted position to permit of driving wagon forwardly between the rails.the counter weights may be adjusted to positions at the opposite sidesof the uprights or posts from the shouldered extremities of the rails,so that as the wagon progresses the rails by the contact of the racktherewith will be moved to a horizontal position in which they will beheld by the swinging of the previously folded uprights or legs to theirnormal positions as the rack end comes in contact with the stop blocksand the continued forward movement of the wagon running gear serves toshift the rack from the running gear to the supporting rails. The upperedges of the rails are preferably located at a slightly greater distancefrom the surface of the ground than the height of the rack as supportedby the running gear of the vehicle, so that the weight of the rack withits load will by reason of the movement of the rack to its normal orhorizontal position serve to raise the rack and reduce the frictionthereof upon the running gear.

hen it is preferred for any reason to reverse operation of shifting theload from the running gear to the lift, the forward uprights or legs maybe folded, to permit of the depression of those ends of the rails adjacent to the stop blocks as indicated in Figure 2, whereupon the wagonwith the rack supported thereby may be backed between the railssufliciently to depress the rails to their normal or horizontalpositions,-the forward end of the rack then being in the rear of thestop blocks-as succeeding forward movement of the team with the runninggear of the vehicle will involve the engagement of the rack with saidblocks and the consequent shifting of the rack and its load from therunning gear to the rails of the lift.

Obviously the reverse of this operation in applying a rack to therunning gear from a position on the lift may be accomplished with. equalfacility, inasmuch as it is only necessary after having moved the wagonto the proper position under the rack and fasten the rails t knock outthe terminal uprights or legs to permit of the engagement of the rackwith the "forward holster of the running gear.

is claimed as new and useful is A hay raclc lift having intermediatelyfulcrumed tilting rails arranged in parallelism and spaced at aninterval exceeding the width of a Wagon running gear, foldable tiltingsupports for each end of each rail pivotally connected with the latterand de- The invention having been described, what signed to rest uponthe surface traversed by the Wagon running gear, the falls being pro-

